Do you remember that song the Kingston Trio sang?
It began with the words: “These are the times that try men’s souls” –
they went on to sing about a guy who got stuck on the subway because he had no subway token to get use to get off.
Some may have thought that those were the times that try men’s souls,
but I believe that time has no comparison to today.
Truly, for so many folks, in so many walks of life, in so many ways, these are the times that try men’s souls.
It is during troubled times – such as these –
that some folks turn to their faith for strength to get them through.
And it is during troubled times – such as these –
that us preachers have a particular responsibility to search the sacred writings of our faith,
research specific issues,
and address the issues we face with messages of hope and help and comfort.
And it during troubled times – such as these –
that we have an opportunity to speak to folks outside our fold with messages that make sense and offer hope and help and comfort.
So, this is the background to this series of sermons
I am preparing on Getting Through Times of Trouble.
Today, I am trying to address Getting Through Times of Trouble When There’s No Money.
Next week, I will address Getting Through Times of Trouble When There’s No Work.
And, the following week I will address Getting Through Times of Trouble When There’s No One Who Cares.
We have to go back some 80 years to find a time when so many people face daily life with the reality of not enough – or no – money.
I dare say that this situation is not unique –
and that every single person in this room knows first hand –
or has family that knows –
the experience of getting through times when there is no money.
When you are living through times when there is no money it does little good to hear pundits expound why there is no money.
You know it when you lose your job – and it does little good to know that it is a condition
of our economy and that there are more people unemployed now than at any time in the past 50 years.
You know it when your house suddenly loses its value and you owe much more than you paid for it.
You know it when you receive foreclosure notice on the residence that you thought so secure just a few years ago.
You know it when costs of healthcare exceed your ability to pay.
You know it when decisions have to made between spending for medicine or spending for food.
You know it when credit is no longer available to you.
You know it when no matter how hard you work, not enough is brought home to pay the bills.
You know it when there is too much month left at the end of the money.
You know it when the truth former pro golfer, Doug Sanders, wrote about is not funny,
"I am working as hard as I can to get my life and my cash to run out at the same time.”
Then after some calculation, he concludes:
“If I can die right after lunch on Tuesday, everything [should] be fine."
Now, it may hard to believe, but our faith actually has a lot to say about this situation many of us find ourselves in.
In fact, our Bible has about 500 verses on prayer,
[about 500 verses on prayer]
but over 2,350 verses on how to handle money and possessions!
There are some 126 biblical principles on finances and material possessions in the New Testament alone.
One of the most poignant stories attributed to Jesus is the one we read a while ago from Luke.
We are told that as the crowds gathered by the thousands to hear and see Jesus, he gathered his disciples and told them a story about a certain farmer who had a particularly good year.
It was a boom time for the farmer.
He harvested record crops.
There was so much harvest he had no where to store it.
His barns weren’t large enough.
What to do? What to do?
For him the obvious thing was to tear his barns and replace them with bigger barns – barns large enough to hold all of his stuff.
With that done, the farmer thought he could rest on his laurels –
live off his investment the rest of his life –
enjoying the good life –
thanks to this record year for crop yields.
Sounds good, right?
We understand his thinking, don’t we?
That’s exactly what we do, isn’t it?
But, Jesus said that God called the farmer a fool.
Jesus said that God uses a different set of figures –
God uses a different calculus, a different math.
God said the farmer lacked faith.
Instead of working to fill his barn with stuff,
it would have better if he worked to grow his faith.
For in the end, it is one’s faith that enables and guarantees an abundant life.
Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot."
Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes.
The message for the farmer, the message for Jesus’ disciples, and the message for us today is: Cultivate your faith.
And the promise is: your life will be enhanced, fulfilled, abundant, even, when you fill your barn with faith.
You may recall a short story D.H. Lawrence wrote that he called “The Rocking-Horse Winner.”
“The Rocking-Horse Winner” is a haunting tale about a family living above its means.
The mother is considered by friends and neighbors to be the perfect mother,
in spite of the fact that deep down she knows she has difficulty loving her three children.
It’s important to the husband to keep up the pretense of success – the large house, staffed with servants – but they are living on the edge, just like many families today.
Listen as D. H. Lawrence describes this family’s life situation:
“And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase: ‘There must be more money! There must be more money!’
The children could hear it all the time though nobody said it aloud.
They heard it at Christmas, when the expensive and splendid toys filled the nursery.
Behind the shining modern rocking-horse,
behind the smart doll’s house,
a voice would start whispering: ‘There must be more money! There must be more money!’
And the children would stop playing, to listen for a moment.
They would look into each other’s eyes, to see if they had all heard.
And each one saw in the eyes of the other two that they too had heard.
‘There must be more money! There must be more money!’
“It came whispering from the springs of the still-swaying rocking-horse,
and even the horse, bending his wooden, champing head, heard it.
The big doll, sitting so pink and smirking in her new pram, could hear it quite plainly, and seemed to be smirking all the more self-consciously because of it.
The foolish puppy, too, that took the place of the teddy-bear, he was looking so extraordinarily foolish for no other reason but that he heard the secret whisper all over the house: ‘There must be more money!’”
That’s the family backdrop to the story of “The Rocking-Horse Winner.”
Quite an extraordinary picture: “There must be more money! There must be more money!”
I am sure for many people in these troubled times, the same phrase haunts their lives:
“There must be more money!”
The situation is real.
The situation is overwhelming.
And we come to church and hear the words of Jesus:
Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.
Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes.
The message for the farmer, the message for Jesus’ disciples, and the message for us today is: Cultivate your faith.
And the promise is: your life will be enhanced, fulfilled, abundant, even, when you fill your barn with faith.
A church member came to his pastor’s study one day.
The man looked deeply troubled.
He said, “Pastor, I need to talk. I feel so empty, so dried up inside, I’m scared.”
His voice began to quiver just a bit.
He said “Pastor, I have just come from the doctor’s office, and he told me that I have only six months at best to live.
After I left the office, I realized that I have no spiritual resources, no inner strength to cope with this.
There is nothing to fall back on, to lean against. Many people would be surprised to hear me say that, for I have made lots of money, and people think I am a success not only at making money, but at being a strong, powerful person.”
He then fell quiet, and there was silence before he could go on.
Finally the man said,
“You know I’m poor in the things that count the most. I see it now.
I’ve put my faith in the wrong things,
and the truth is I am destitute, spiritually destitute.
I could pick up the phone and call any bank in the city and borrow any amount of money to do whatever I wanted to.
Just on my name, Reverend, just on my name!
Do you understand?
I could borrow it on my name only.”
The man then leaned forward and put his head in his hands, and said softly through tears, “I guess there are some things you can’t buy or borrow.”
This man’s material bank was full to overflowing, but his spiritual bank was empty.
Jesus said you can count on these things to happen.
We all will have times of trouble.
Every single one of us lives numbered days.
Not one of us can add a single day to our life by worrying about tomorrow.
But, each and every one us can cultivate a faith –
a faith that provides meaning and purpose to life –
a faith that makes living – even in troubled times –
an abundant experience.
Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.
Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes.
The stuff you have stored is not a reliable investment.
Stocks and bonds and cds and savings accounts are not reliable investments.
Seeking to work for the accumulation of stuff is a risky investment.
The message for the farmer,
the message for Jesus’ disciples,
and the message for us today is: Cultivate your faith.
And the promise is: your life will be enhanced, fulfilled, abundant, even, when you fill your barn with faith.
That’s what we do here at Christ Church.
You may not always articulate it this way, but that’s why you come here.
That’s what we are about.
Here in our worship and our activities we offer ways of cultivating your faith –
the cultivation of a faith that produces a harvest of abundance that always exceeds whatever space you try to put it in –
a faith that enables us to get through times of trouble – even when there’s no money.
Amen.
This a sermon the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, heard on October 10, 2010.
